ALHAMA DE MURCIA, Spain — Chris Froome kept his Spanish Vuelta lead by avoiding trouble in the difficult final descent of Tuesday’s Stage 10, which was won by Matteo Trentin.

It was the second stage victory for the Italian, who outsprinted Spaniard Jose Joaquin Rojas at the end of the 164.8-kilometre (102.4-mile) ride from Caravaca de la Cruz to Alhama de Murcia in southeastern Spain.

“I really wanted that victory. I had been thinking about this stage for a while,” Trentin said. “I knew the downhill was super technical. It was good for me having Rojas with me because he was really good in the downhill. I just followed him and to be honest, when he was really pushing, I was a bit in trouble to follow him even though I’m (a) good descender.”

Froome, the Tour de France winner, finished 24th in the stage but stayed 36 seconds ahead of Esteban Chaves of Colombia and Nicolas Roche of Ireland, his closest challengers in the overall standings.

“I wasn’t willing to take any risks. I am in a good position,” said Froome, the stage winner on Sunday. “We took it easy with my teammates and kept everything together.”

Roche made one of the biggest moves in Tuesday’s stage, gaining nearly half a minute on Froome.